This Rail Link
Spans a Wide Gap

China Hopes Route
Will Help Strengthen
Its Ties With Tibet

LHASA, China -- A train carrying government officials and reporters arrived here to mark the opening of a service that Beijing hopes will strengthen economic ties with its remote territory of Tibet.

The train, pulled by three General Electric Co.-made locomotives and with more than 900 passengers aboard, was met by young women wearing traditional Tibetan dresses when it arrived on time in Lhasa Station last night. They asked visitors to flick drops of water in deference to the Buddhist religion that guides the territory. A...